Great Uncle Pete: Rock Band

Great Uncle Pete write and play all their own songs. Every one of them a classic, and they have a back catalogue of over 100 songs. The latest round of full band recording - including some brand new songs and some re-worked classics - is available now:

We Could Be Your Men (2007)

01 No_Strings_Attached.mp3
02_Amphibious_Girl.mp3
03_You_Don_t_Love_Me_Any_More.mp3
04_Xylophone.mp3
05_Get_Me_Down.mp3
06_Real_Groovy.mp3
07_Ambulance_Man.mp3
08_Girl_On_My_Street.mp3
09_Such_A_Shame.mp3
10_Rock_At_The_End_Of_The_Bay.mp3
11_I_Could_Be_Your_Man.mp3

Download of six of these available from our MySpace page

Song	Year	Comments
Ambulance Man	2004	The definitive recording of this song. All songs take a while to settle down and find their groove. After this recording, we always did it like this. Check out the brand new recording here
At The Bay	1994	Leath wrote the lovely song based on the Katherine Mansfield short story of the same name that he was probably studying in English at the time.
Back In Linden	2003	A GUP ode to their home town. All bands have them.
Breakdown	2002	One of the few songs we wrote as a band. It all happened one rehearsal in "the top flat". The demo you hear here is not very much like how we jammed it that evening. It has verses, for one thing. We never performed this song.
Charted Accountants	2007	The original version of this song was written by Leath many years ago and consisted (as many of the songs did) of just a chorus. Here's Steve fully fleshed out version with verses, guitar solos, and a visit from the auditors.
Country Song	1996	This is an even earlier GUP song, performed here live at Michael Buck's 21st. Probably one of the few times we played this song live. Not sure if we intended to play this or not. Steve, Mat and Mike performed it while Leath was off getting a drink.
Dave, Dave, Dave	2002	Bit of a silly song. Was originally written at a party about a guy there called Dave who had facial hair that made him look rather sheep-like. I doubt we ever performed the song after the party, but this demo was a nice chance to use acoustic guitar, banjo and accordion.
EGB	2002	This is GUP's only real cover. The original song (verse 1) was out of Phil Edgecombe's beginner recorder book (presumably while they were teaching the notes E G and B). We wrote a lot of extra verses for it to help the listener get to know the EGB character in a lot more depth that the original song allowed. A number of years later Leath tried to find the piano book again at the Edgecombe's house, but couldn't. Phil went on to become a drummer.
Fish 'n Chips	2002	Written Dec 1992, in a takeaway shop, in Tawa, on a Friday night, waiting for our Fish and Chips. Pretty simple really. This version recorded 10 years later.
Goodbye	1993	When Steve first purchased Mat's 4-track off him he set about recording "good" versions of many GUP songs using the PS Value Point (um, a "computer") for bass, drum and keyboard parts. Quite a lot of songs were recorded this way. Leath recorded vocals for some of them too - like this one. I think Goodbye was one of the first songs Leath wrote when he first started learning the guitar.
Green Light	2006	An old song. I think Leath said he wanted to do a song the sounded like it was written by The Kinks, and so Steve wrote this. This demo version doesn't sound much like the Kinks at all, but at the time it made Leath happy. We performed this live quite often when we first "went electric".
I Miss You	2004	A lovely song of Leath's that we were never allowed to play live. For some reason Leath was never that keen on it. But Steve loved it, and had fun recording this short version.
Last Song	1992	Written and recorded the night Dr Babbage joined th band. The story goes that Leath had a Muttonbirds tape out of the library, and we though it would be funny to add this song to the end of side one before he returned it. I don't think we ended up putting it on.
Little Girl Of Love	1998	Another Leath Powell classic. I think the accordion sound is the Maranucchi. This song didn't go far either.
Lorraine	1992	Another very moving song from Leath. Steve played percussion on this song, while Leath played guitar and sung. Dr Babbage provides harmonies.
Makara Beach	2002	A classic. This one has the kazoo doing the sax part, and a cool guitar solo.
Now I'm Blue	2005	A spontaneous live version of this song. We were doing some recording with another band and were pretty pleased to capture this version of the song.
Overlocker (video)	2005	A live video of the song captured in a car on the 2005 June 31st tour. Great Uncle Pete at their acoustic best.
Ryan Works For Sailor Sam	2007	Good old Ryan. An old song. This version contains, for the first time, extended lyrics in the verses, while still retaining that original feel.
syndrome	1998	Live at Richard Prouse Park on a June 31st Tour. Written by Steve, Colin and Duncan in Taupo a few years earlier. Not officially a GUP song. Don't tell Leath I included it here. GUP also played it live at Leath's 21st.
Tauranga	1991	The earliest Great Uncle Pete recording. The first GUP song. Written by Steve and Ryan as we recorded it. Steve overdubbed the bass the next morning.
You're 18	1994	Leath wrote this before he himself turned 18. This version comes from what we called "The Buzz Sessions" (2ZB, Lindsay Yo, etc).

For latest rehearsal recordings, click here.